Component assembly cushioning device for mobile devices

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a mobile devices and particularly, to a device for cushioning a component assembly in a mobile device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many mobile electronic devices such as hand-held computers, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), have a multi-component assembly housed within a small case or housing. A small housing means that a small change (numerically) in the size of the internal components or the housing can result in a large change (in terms of percentage) in the space within the housing allocated for the component assembly. A typical component assembly is a component stack that includes a display, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a circuit board.

Typically, the housing consists of two mating halves to contain the assembly. The mated halves define an interior cavity and, of course, the depth of the component assembly must be slightly less than the depth of the interior cavity. The difference in depth results in an undesirable gap between the component assembly and the housing inside the assembled device.

The gap can be expected to vary in depth due to manufacturing tolerances, assembly tolerances, substitution of components in the component assembly, redesign of the component assembly or the use of a standard housing for different models or devices.

The gap is undesirable since it can result in movement or play of the interior components of the device allowing components to become displaced, disconnected, damaged or simply rattle around inside the housing, especially if the device suffers a shock such as from being dropped.

To eliminate these undesirable results, one solution is to employ a cushion or spacer, for example, a layer of compressible foam. Initially, the uncompressed spacer is deeper than the dimension of the gap so that when the depth of the spacer is added to the depth of the component assembly, the total depth is greater than that of the interior of the housing. However, during assembly of the housing of the device, the interior of the housing comes into contact with the spacer and compresses it against the component stack. Accordingly, the gap is occupied by the compressed spacer preventing movement of the component assembly in the direction of the stack-up (normal to the plane of the circuit board or the LCD).

If the spacer is insufficiently deep, it will not span the gap even in an uncompressed state or it will provide inadequate cushioning for the component assembly. If the spacer is too deep then upon compression it will exert excessive pressure to the component assembly including the display. In the situation where the display is an LCD module, the LCD itself is sensitive to the pressure applied to it. Pushing it unevenly or with too much force will cause a blemish or distortion to appear in the viewing area. Excessive pressure can also prevent the spacer from properly dispersing the energy of an impact because its ability to deflect has already been used in taking up the tolerance of the small available space and in extreme cases excessive pressure or the inability to deflect a shock can result in breaking of the screen. This is very costly, especially if the screen is an expensive color LCD.

Any of these scenarios can result in an unacceptable product and increase the cost of manufacturing of mobile devices. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved spacer for use with a component assembly to more controllably fill a gap between the component assembly and the housing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an embodiment, there is provided a spacer for use in a mobile device to space a component assembly from a housing of the mobile device. The spacer comprises a body of compressible material for insertion between the component assembly and the housing; and a plurality of compressible features provided on the body. The compressible features deform to prevent displacement of the component assembly relative to the housing while leaving the body of the spacer relatively uncompressed so that the body cushions the component assembly. The compressible features can be domed, cylindrical, polygonal prism, conical, frusto-conical, pyramidal or frusto-pyramidal in shape.

According to a further embodiment, there is provided a spacer for use in a mobile device. The spacer fills a space between a component assembly and a housing. The component assembly includes a display component. The spacer comprises a layer of compressible material for insertion between the component assembly and the housing; and a plurality of compressible features provided on a face of the layer. The compressible features are compressible upon assembly of the mobile device and extend between the component assembly and the housing to space the component assembly inside the housing when the mobile device is assembled. The depth of the layer and uncompressed compressible features exceeds the depth of the space between the component assembly and the housing, and the depth of the compressed layer and the compressed compressible features exceeds a predetermined critical depth.

In another embodiment, there is provided a method of manufacturing a spacer for use in a mobile device. The spacer includes a body of compressible material for insertion between a component assembly of the mobile device and a housing of the mobile device; and a plurality of compressible features are provided on the body for filling space between the component assembly and the housing during assembly of the mobile device while leaving the body of the spacer relatively uncompressed so that the body can cushion the component assembly. The method comprises steps of depositing partially cured solution of material onto a surface; spreading the partially cured solution of material to form a layer of desired thickness; using a patterned roller to flatten and pattern the spread partially cured solution of material; and allowing the partially cured solution of material to cure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached drawings, wherein:

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref> is an exploded view of a mobile device including a spacer according to an embodiment of the present invention;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref> shows an alternative embodiment of the present invention;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref> shows another alternative embodiment of the present invention;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4</figref> shows a section view along the line <b>4</b>-<b>4</b> of <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref>;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 5</figref> is an exploded view of a mobile device including two spacers;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 6</figref> shows a section view of a further embodiment of the present invention;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref> shows a still further embodiment of the present invention;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 8</figref> is a section view of an additional embodiment of the present invention;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 9</figref> shows a graph illustrating relationship between force and displacement;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 10</figref> shows a graph contrasting the compression properties of a spacer according to embodiments of the present invention with those of conventional technology.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 11</figref><i>a </i>and <b>11</b><i>b </i>show the range of gaps accommodated by a conventional spacer;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 12</figref><i>a </i>and <b>12</b><i>b </i>show the range of gaps accommodated by a spacer according to embodiments of the present invention;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 13</figref><i>a</i>, <b>13</b><i>b </i>and <b>13</b><i>c </i>show the deformation of a spacer in compression;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 14</figref><i>a</i>, <b>14</b><i>b </i>and <b>14</b><i>c </i>show the steps in a method of manufacturing a spacer; and

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 15</figref> shows the master roll <b>1440</b> of <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 14</figref>.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally, a spacer for use with a mobile device having a component assembly enclosed in a housing is provided. The spacer occupies a gap between the component assembly and the housing.

Referring to <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref>, a mobile device <b>100</b> has a component assembly or component stack contained within a housing. The mobile device <b>100</b> is an electronic device such as a hand-held computer, a cellular telephone with or without data communications functionality, a wireless mobile data communication device, a wireless email communication device, a pager, or a PDA, for example. The housing of <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref> consists of two mating halves, a front half <b>110</b> and a back half <b>150</b>. When the front and back halves are assembled, they define the housing and an interior cavity. The component assembly includes electronic circuitry <b>140</b>, for example, a circuit board and a display such as an LCD <b>130</b>. A seal or spacer <b>120</b> according to an embodiment of the present invention is used to eliminate any gap between the housing and the component assembly in the direction of the stack-up (normal to the plane of the circuit board <b>140</b>).

The spacer <b>120</b> is made of a suitable material such as compressible foam. The body <b>122</b> of the spacer is a layer dimensioned to extend around the perimeter of the cavity at the front or back half of the housing. A central aperture <b>126</b> in the body enables the LCD <b>130</b> to be visible through a window <b>112</b> in the front of the housing. The central aperture also allows actuators <b>114</b> to contact or connect with corresponding elements on the circuit board <b>140</b>.

Compressible features, such as the raised feature <b>124</b>, are provided on the front surface of the spacer. These compressible features make the spacer or seal hyperelastic as explained below. The raised features <b>124</b> illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref> are domed, although they can be any suitable shape such as cylindrical, polygonal prism, conical, frusto-conical, pyramidal and frusto-pyramidal. Alternatively, a pattern of recesses, valleys or dimples can be cut, stamped or otherwise formed into the surface of the spacer, leaving compressible features (e.g. ridges surrounding the cut out portions) formed on the underlying body layer.

According to the present embodiment, the raised features <b>124</b> form a regular grid or arrayed pattern, however, any suitable pattern can be used. The planar density of compressible features can also be varied, for example by the pattern chosen, as discussed below.

The raised features <b>124</b> can be made of a material different than that of the spacer but, according to a preferred embodiment, they are integrally formed with the spacer. The raised features <b>124</b> enable the spacer to accommodate larger gaps than a conventional spacer without over compressing the LCD <b>130</b> in smaller gaps.

As illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 9</figref>, at the beginning of compression, the raised features <b>124</b> deflect with minimal force since the volume of the raised features <b>124</b> of the spacer <b>120</b> is small. See region <b>910</b> in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 9</figref>. Without the raised features <b>124</b> there could be a gap or inadequate cushioning between the housing and the assembly. The raised features <b>124</b> overcome the tolerance or gap without affecting the range of the work area of the spacer <b>120</b>. This makes the full compression range of at least the body <b>122</b> of the spacer <b>120</b> available for cushioning the component assembly. The component assembly will have neither pre-compression set nor play.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 11</figref><i>a </i>illustrates a conventional spacer <b>1120</b> having thickness t. In this example, an acceptable maximum amount of compression c in the range 0&lt;c&lt;=0.10t, i.e. any amount of compression up to 10 percent of the original thickness of the spacer <b>1120</b> does not over compress the spacer and the spacer retains sufficient resilience to absorb a predefined shock. Of course, the range will vary depending on many factors, including the properties of the material of the spacer and the geometry of the spacer, component stack and housing. In the example of <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 11</figref><i>a</i>, the spacer <b>1120</b> cannot accommodate gap g<b>1</b> where g<b>1</b>&gt;t. Also the spacer <b>1120</b> cannot accommodate too small a gap g<b>2</b> which overcompresses the spacer. Accordingly, the spacer <b>1120</b> can only accommodate gaps smaller than its thickness, i.e. g&lt;t, and if the acceptable maximum compression is 10% then the spacer can only accommodate gaps larger than (1-0.1)t, or g&gt;0.9t. Accordingly, for a conventional spacer such as the spacer <b>1120</b>, 0.9t&lt;g&lt;t, or more generally (1−c)t&lt;g&lt;t, where g is the size of the gap, t is the thickness of the spacer and c is the maximum acceptable amount of compression and 0&lt;c&lt;1.

By contrast, referring to <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 12</figref><i>a </i>and <b>12</b><i>b</i>, a spacer <b>1210</b> according to the present invention includes a main body <b>1212</b> with thickness t and protrusions <b>1214</b> with thickness h. Assuming that the volume of material in the protrusions is small compared with the volume of material in the body, then the protrusions will be nearly completely collapsed before any substantial compression of the body <b>1212</b> occurs, as shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 13</figref><i>a </i>to <b>13</b><i>c</i>. When the protrusions are partially compressed, a compression force is exerted on the component stack preventing it from moving in the stack direction. If there are fewer protrusions, then deformation of the main body resulting from pressure on the protrusions is negligible and the full range of compression of the main body <b>1212</b> is available to absorb any shock to which the component stack is subjected. Referring to <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 12</figref><i>a </i>and <b>12</b><i>b</i>, where the body <b>1212</b> of spacer <b>1210</b> has the same thickness as body <b>1120</b> and the same maximum amount of compression, then any gap which satisfies g&lt;t+h and g&gt;(1−c)t can be accommodated, or (1−c)t&lt;g&lt;t+h. Thus, the spacer <b>1210</b> accommodates a greater range of gaps, including gaps up to a size of t+h instead of gaps up to size t, without affecting the compression limit c. The ratio of h to t is important, and selected for a desired gap range. For example, the increase in gap range is very significant if h/t is close to 1.

As indicated above, the maximum amount of compression, expressed in terms of the total thickness of the spacer, can vary substantially. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the maximum amount of compression, c, is in the range 3% to 10%. According to another embodiment, c is in the range 4% to 6%. According to a further embodiment c is approximately 5%.

More generally, a spacer according to embodiments of the present invention includes a spacer having a body and layer of compressible features provided on the body. The body and the layer of compressible features have different compression properties. The body is relatively resistant to compression and the layer of compressible features is relatively easy to compress. This arrangement can be effected by using different materials or by using the same materials for differently formed structures or differently dimensioned structures as in the examples above. According to the examples provided above, the body comprises a first layer relatively resistant to compression and the protrusions form a sparse second layer of material that is relatively compressible. Alternatively, the relatively compressible layer is formed of a layer similar to the body layer but having depressions, cut-outs, grooves or other volumes of material removed so that the total volume of material compressed is less than the volume of material compressed in a like volume of space.

Spacers according to aspects of the present invention have different physical characteristics than a conventional spacer. This is illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 10</figref>. A conventional spacer without raised features has the compression curve <b>1010</b> whereas a spacer according to an embodiment of the present invention has compression curve <b>1020</b>.

The compression curves of <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 10</figref> illustrate the different amounts of force exerted on the LCD due to the compression of each spacer. It is evident that for a given amount of compression, spacers according to embodiments of the present invention advantageously exert less force on a component stack and, in particular, on an LCD or other sensitive component in the component stack.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref> illustrates another embodiment of the present invention, in which a spacer <b>200</b> includes a body <b>220</b> having raised features <b>222</b> that are differently spaced than in the preceding embodiment shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref>. <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 3 and 4</figref> illustrate still another embodiment wherein a spacer <b>300</b> has a different pattern of raised features <b>310</b> on the body <b>320</b>.

According to <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 5</figref>, an alternative embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in which a front spacer <b>120</b> and a back spacer <b>510</b> are employed, corresponding to each of the two halves <b>110</b> and <b>150</b> of the housing. This provides additional protection for the components and enables larger tolerances to be overcome.

According to <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 6</figref>, the spacer <b>600</b> has raised features <b>610</b> on both its surfaces. Again, this increases the amount of tolerance which can be accommodated by the spacer.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref> illustrates another pattern of raised features <b>710</b> which are less densely spaced on the body <b>720</b> of the spacer <b>700</b> than the raised features of <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref>. This decreases the volume of spacer <b>700</b> to be compressed and decreases the associated pressure. Alternatively, the pattern of compressible features can be more densely spaced to increase the volume of material initially compressed and increase the pressure.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 8</figref> illustrates compressible features <b>810</b> of varying heights that modify the compression curve of the spacer <b>800</b> over its area.

An example method of manufacturing the spacer of the present invention is illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 14 and 15</figref>. Initially, a mass <b>1410</b> of liquid solution of rubber or other suitable material is deposited on a plate <b>1420</b>, as shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 14</figref><i>a</i>. As the solution cures, an oscillating blade <b>1430</b> spreads the rubber solution <b>1410</b> over the plate <b>1420</b> to achieve a layer of rubber <b>1412</b> in a half-liquid state, as in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 14</figref><i>b</i>. The layer is approximately twice the thickness of the final spacer, although this can be varied as required. Referring now to <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 14</figref><i>c</i>, a master roll <b>1440</b> is then used to flatten and pattern the rubber <b>1412</b> and produce a mass of material <b>1414</b> of the desired thickness, for example, 0.787 mm not including the thickness of the raised features <b>1416</b>. The material is allowed to cure, and is then trimmed to form one or more rolls which can be cut as desired into individual spacers.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 15</figref> illustrates an example embodiment of a master roll <b>1440</b> having indentations <b>1442</b> which result in the raised features <b>1416</b>. Of course, other master rolls are used to produce different shapes or patterns of raised features, or to effect dimples or cut outs in a material roll for spacers.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention are intended to be examples only. Alterations, modifications and variations may be effected to the particular embodiments by those of skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.